Total communication <\/p>\n
Deaf and hard-of-hearing students build their skills <\/p>\n
By Elaine Marsilio <\/p>\n
Odessa American <\/p>\n
Saturday, May 3, 2008<\/p>\n
ODESSA — Carver pre-kindergartner Lisette Garcia squirmed happily in
\nher chair as teacher Clarissa Funk read from a book about dinosaurs
\nrecently. <\/p>\n
Funk read the book to four of her students as she also signed the
\nwords with her hands. <\/p>\n
Lisette, 3, listened and watched her teacher quickly pull out a blue,
\nplastic horn in a clear box. <\/p>\n
Funk would later imitate a dinosaur roar with the horn, but before
\nshe could Lisette piped up. <\/p>\n
“Let’s open it!” Lisette yelled to Funk. <\/p>\n
Funk smiled, and told her teacher’s aide, Maggie Rodriguez, to log
\nthe phrase into a sample language book, which records spontaneous
\nphrases or words her students say. <\/p>\n
In other words, progress. <\/p>\n
Funk, who teaches deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Carver Early
\nEducation Center, works with students to build their language and
\ncommunication skills through an approach called “Total Communication”
\nas part of the district’s Ector County Regional Day School Program for
\nthe Deaf. <\/p>\n
That approach zeros in on speech and signing skills, Funk said,
\nnoting each student comes to her at a different level of ability. <\/p>\n
She uses an auditory trainer hearing aid system with her students, in
\nwhich Funk wears a microphone in class to amplify her speech so the
\nstudents may hear her wherever they are in the classroom. <\/p>\n
Funk and Rodriguez work with the students to improve their skills so
\nthey may reach the same skill level as a regular education
\nprekindergarten student. <\/p>\n
Funk said her personal goal for her six students is for them to build
\na sense of independence by refraining from relying on others for most
\nof their needs. <\/p>\n
“I want them to communicate,” Funk said. “I want them to live just as
\nwe do.” <\/p>\n
Barbara Faubion, lead teacher for the Ector County deaf school
\nprogram, said Carver is one of four campuses in the Ector County
\nIndependent School District working with deaf and hard-of-hearing
\nstudents. <\/p>\n
The program serves those students starting with their infant years up
\nto high school age, she said. <\/p>\n
“We teach language-based information to students for educational
\ngrowth,” Faubion said. <\/p>\n
A majority of the program’s 37 students bus daily from areas like
\nAndrews, Crane and Fort Stockton to receive services. The program also
\nprovides services for parents through its parent-infant program, which
\nworks with parents in developing sign language and other communication
\nskills before a child entering the first campus in the program:
\nCarver. <\/p>\n
Back at Carver, Funk said she also works with students on developing
\ntheir common knowledge of objects and things like colors and the
\nletter alphabet in addition to working on language and signing skills.<\/p>\n
Oftentimes, she helps her students understand words by placing their
\nhand on their own throat so they can feel the sound. She said she
\nworks on different concepts to help her students learn from hands-on
\nto listening to signing exercises. <\/p>\n
“My goal is to get them language,” Funk said. <\/p>\n
? 2007 Abilene Reporter-News<\/p>\n
Link:
\nhttp:\/\/www.reporternews.com\/news\/2008\/may\/03\/total-communication\/<\/p>\n
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Total communication Deaf and hard-of-hearing students build their skills By Elaine Marsilio Odessa American Saturday, May 3, 2008 ODESSA — Carver pre-kindergartner Lisette Garcia squirmed happily in her chair as teacher Clarissa Funk read from a book about dinosaurs recently.…<\/p>\n